I found this article just plain ole surfing the net. The accusations it makes against what the author pegs as 'progressive' are staggering. It takes a few hot button issues and accuses the movement of nothing less than resurecting Baal worship. Seriously. It made me shudder when I read it. It takes a reductionist approach that tries to tell the readers all progressives are really pagans in disguise.

How do people like us deal with a challange of this kind? How do we combat it? Let's discuss.

As I recall, Lynchburg, VA was the home of the late Jerry Falwell. I don't think the sermon is simply a coincidence, but if it is, the world has had this kind of demonizing to deal with as a highly visible phenomenon for several decades now. And it has been around in a less visible form for a lot longer. I'm not willing to get to exercised over it.

I found this article just plain ole surfing the net. The accusations it makes against what the author pegs as 'progressive' are staggering. It takes a few hot button issues and accuses the movement of nothing less than resurecting Baal worship. Seriously. It made me shudder when I read it. It takes a reductionist approach that tries to tell the readers all progressives are really pagans in disguise.

How do people like us deal with a challange of this kind? How do we combat it? Let's discuss.

IMO...Wold Net Daily is trash. Almost everything they "report" is not true, again IMO.

OK, maybe I overreacted some when I saw it. I didn't pay overmuch attention to the web address. It did trigger my outrage response, though, when I read it through for the first time. Maybe because I'm just now getting more interested in the progressive approach to the faith.

But come on, don't thoughts like this even irritate people around here? Are you all so accustomed to being demonized by the Fundamentals that you don't even bother responding anymore?

OK, maybe I overreacted some when I saw it. I didn't pay overmuch attention to the web address. It did trigger my outrage response, though, when I read it through for the first time. Maybe because I'm just now getting more interested in the progressive approach to the faith.

But come on, don't thoughts like this even irritate people around here? Are you all so accustomed to being demonized by the Fundamentals that you don't even bother responding anymore?

To be honest when I saw the site I closed the tab without reading.

Over 20 years later after beginning the journey of following my own truth I just accept that most Christians are still in the boxes they were raised in or joined along life's way. I too had my box growing up. As a young adult I was in limbo.....searching.

My mom is still a Southern Baptist who finally after many years accepts I have my own spiritual path and I am not doomed to the hell she believes in. At one point my oldest daughter (42) told her dad she was worried I wouldn't go to Heaven. Hank (hubby) asked her what kind of God do you believe in that would send your mom to hell? She too has come to accept I have my own spiritual truth and path. Her family goes to a modern Rock 'n Roll music-wise church, but it is fundamental in the preaching.

For me part of being a Progressive Christian is accepting everyone has a right to believe what they choose concerning religion or spiritual matters.

I actually read the link. These people are crazy. Whatever progressive Christianity is, it is certainly not Baal worship. These folks even have the gall to make environmentalism sound unholy. And saying that we perform child sacrifice! Unfrigginbelievable.

I actually read the link. These people are crazy. Whatever progressive Christianity is, it is certainly not Baal worship. These folks even have the gall to make environmentalism sound unholy. And saying that we perform child sacrifice! Unfrigginbelievable.

The article starts with practice of Baal worship and connects it to Liberalism. Are Progressive Christians offended because they are one and the same as Liberalism?

Then the article compares progressives with secular humanists.

Then: 'Liberalism dolled up and gratuitously stamped as Christian' -?

Instead of of condeming thre article I would like some discussion: exactly where he is wrong and why. I consider some points quite valid. In some countries it is 'progressive' to show sex acts (literaly) on the telvision screen. In order not to be branded as non-progressive, old fashioned, in the box, how far should we go?

Copied from the article:

""But it's not just self-styled "progressives" or secular humanists who have adopted the fundamental pillars of Baalism. In these postmodern times, we've also been graced, regrettably, by the advent of counter-biblical "emergent Christianity" or "quasi-Christianity," as I prefer to call it.

This is merely liberalism all dolled up and gratuitously stamped "Christian." It's a way for left-wing ideologues to have their "religion" cake and eat it too. Under the guise of "social justice," its adherents often support – or at least rationalize – the same pro-homosexual, pro-abortion and radical environmental policies pushed by the modern-day Baal worshiper.

So, today's liberalism is really just a very old book with a shiny new cover. A philosophy rooted in ancient pagan traditions, of which there is naught to be proud.""

The whole premise of the article is wrong. Liberals (and I am unashamedly and unabashedly one!) are not Baal worshippers or anything remotely like it. This is a sinister distortion whereby the fundamentalists are trying to discredit progresives by pairing them with a symbol of unholiness, i.e. Baal. Stop trying to scare us with your mythology. Stop relying on literalistic interpretations of ancient texts, and apply your mind and spirit to these important questions. Obviously, we are not devil worshippers because we (or at least I) don't believe in devils, except as mythological and/or psychological entities. The fundamentalists need to defend their vicious and fallacious attack on us. We should not have to defend against the nonsensical rants of small minded traditionalists.

I think it bears repeating what I said in the op: I did not intentionally go to this website. I stumbled upon this article surfing the net.

Bigbear- I agree, the Fundamentals are actually trying too hard to discredit the movement, supposedly their "enemy."

Why is it the movement terrifies them that they're willing to go to such extremes? I really don't know. But I wanted to bring up the subject here and talk about it. Frankly, after the initial reaction I thought this thread was going to get ignored and die. When that didn't happen, it made me sit up.

I think there should be a positve response to the problem. As a movement within the church, we should be able to appeal to scripture and the history of the church to show we have a place in it. We can use the situation to promote exploration of the church's past to see how the faith has grown and changed over time. There are things that have stayed the same throughout the centuries, but maybe knowledge of differences in the past can at least create some humility about the differences we're having in the present. What say you all to this idea?